A Colombian family on Tuesday filed a petition with the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that Colombian national Alejandro Carranza Medina was unlawfully killed in a U.S. airstrike on September 15, The Guardian reported.
The petition marks the Trump administration’s first formal charge against airstrikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels, which the White House contends are justified under a new legal interpretation.
IACHR, part of the Organization of American States, aims to “promote and protect human rights in the Western Hemisphere.” The United States is also a member, with the Trump administration’s State Department writing in March: “The United States is pleased to be a strong supporter of the IACHR and remains committed to supporting the work of the Commission and its independence. Preserving the autonomy of the IACHR is a pillar of our human rights policy in the region.”
The complaint was filed by Dan Kovalik, a human rights lawyer based in Pittsburgh. “On September 15, 2025, the U.S. military bombed the boat of the Alejandro Andres Carranza Medina while it was sailing off the coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Sea. Mr. Carranza was killed in the process of the bombing,” the filing states.
Kovalik identified U.S. Army Secretary Pete Hegseth as the culprit, based on Hegseth’s own statements. “We know from numerous reports that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is responsible for ordering the bombings of boats like Alejandro Carranza Medina and the killing of everyone on those boats. Secretary Hegseth has acknowledged issuing such orders despite the fact that he did not know the identities of those targeted in these bombings and extrajudicial killings,” the filing continues.
The complaint further adds, “President Donald Trump has approved Secretary Hegseth’s actions described herein.”